Lee Young-hoo

When a high school diploma becomes the key to unlocking his inheritance, a spoiled teen gets an invaluable lesson in life and love in a rural village.

Yong-soo is an ex-soccer player who lives in a small coal-mine village in North Korea with his wife and young son, Joon. Although living in extreme poverty like many other families in North Korea, the family is happy just to be with each other. Then one day, Yong-soo's pregnant wife becomes critically ill. Let alone medicine, Yong-soo can't even find food for her in North Korea. So he decides to secretly cross the border to China hoping to find the medicine for his wife.

Hong-yun is a high school girl in little mountain village when she falls head-over-heels for a handsome new school teacher, Mr. Kang. What with taking care of her youngest baby brother for her widowed mother and the impossible age difference, it is a roller-coaster ride for her as she tries to become someone special for Mr. Kang while he seems interested in the other new teacher at the school, Miss Yang.

Young-in and his colleague Seung-dae are a pair of professional bagmen working for various lobbyists in finance, media and a host of other industries requiring political favors. Feeling guilty about his work, Seung-dae tells Young-in he plans on blowing the whistle on his boss Han's illegal activities.

A former safecracker makes a living as a taxi driver but continues to be haunted by her past. One day she chances upon an aspiring singer, who is a spitting image of herself back in the day. Together, the two women plot to steal money from gangsters.

This drama marks the beginning of the 500 Years of Joseon Dynasty series, covering the fall of Goryo and the founding of the Joseon Dynasty by Taejo, as well as the subsequent reigns of his sons Jeongjong and Taejong.